David Grittenand
Rachel Hagan
EPA
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visited the White House in November
Seven countries including Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt say they will join US president Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, according to a joint statement.
They will join Israel, which also publicly confirmed its participation earlier on Wednesday.
The group of Muslim-majority countries named in the statement are Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan and Qatar.
The board was originally thought to be aimed at helping end the two-year war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and oversee reconstruction. But its proposed charter does not mention the Palestinian territory and appears to be designed to supplant functions of the UN.
However Saudi Arabia said that the countries endorsed the aim of consolidating a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, supporting reconstruction and advancing what they described as a “just and lasting peace”.
Following their accession, Slovenia’s prime minister Robert Golob said he had declined the invitation because the body “dangerously interferes with the broader international order”.
So far Bahrain, Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Morocco and Vietnam have also agreed to join.
It is not clear how many countries have been invited to join Trump’s new body -Canada, Russia and the UK are among them, but have not yet publicly responded.
The Vatican also confirmed Pope Leo has received an invitation. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said the Pope would need time to consider whether to take part.
A leaked document says the Board of Peace’s charter will enter into force once three states formally agree to be bound by it, with member states given renewable three-year terms and permanent seats available to those contributing $1bn (£740m), it said.
The charter declared the body as an international organisation mandated to carry out peace-building functions under international law, with Trump serving as chairman – and separately as the US representative – and holding authority to appoint executive board members and create or dissolve subsidiary bodies.
Last Friday, the White House named seven members of the founding Executive Board, including US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and former UK prime minister Tony Blair.
Former UN Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov was appointed as the board’s representative in Gaza during a second phase of the plan, which includes reconstruction and demilitarisation, with the board authorised by a UN Security Council resolution running until the end of 2027.
On Saturday, Netanyahu’s office said the Gaza Executive Board’s composition “was not coordinated with Israel and runs contrary to its policy”.
Israeli media said the decision to include representatives of Turkey and Qatar – which both helped broker the ceasefire that took effect in October, along with Egypt and the US – had happened “over Israel’s head”.
Under phase one of the peace plan, Hamas and Israel agreed to the ceasefire, an exchange of living and dead Israeli hostages in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, a partial Israeli withdrawal, and a surge in deliveries of humanitarian aid.
Israel has said it can only move into the second phase after Hamas hands over the body of the last dead hostage.
Phase two faces major challenges, with Hamas having previously refused to give up its weapons without the creation of an independent Palestinian state, and Israel having not committed to fully withdrawing from Gaza.
Reuters
Humanitarian conditions for Palestinians in Gaza remain dire despite the ceasefire and aid surge
The ceasefire is also fragile. More than 460 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes since it came into force, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, while the Israeli military says three of its soldiers have been killed in Palestinian attacks during the same period.
The war was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
Israel responded to the attack by launching a military campaign in Gaza, during which more than 71,550 people have been killed, according to the territory’s health ministry.
